Of Angels and Demons: A New Generation

Sinneth Zodiak

As I stare at Sinneth, Attira sits up and looks around. She jumps slightly when she sees him. "Who are you?" She asks as I sigh. "How did you not hear him?" I mumble as he doesn't even raise his head. "My name is Sinneth Zodiak." He says once more as Moxi laughs. "So, he's the new recruit?" Moxi says as I see Lastis walk through the door. "He's been here for a little while." Lastis says as Fallyn jerks awake with covers wrapped around his head. As he falls out of his bed, struggling to get the covers unwrapped, I hear Lastis sigh. "So, we need to make sure that he can fight? Make sure he doesn't weigh us down?" Fallyn asks as Lastis nods. "This test will be a little different than what Moxi and Malick did. This sparring session will end when either he's knocked off of his feet or we are." Lastis says as he walks towards the exit. Fallyn and Moxi run behind him, throwing their shirts on while running. "I'm surprised you were the only who did not remove any articles of clothing while you slept." Sinneth says as he walks past us and out the door. "Wait, what did he mean by only I didn't remove any articles of clothing?" I mumble as Attira taps my shoulder. As I look back, I see her blushing slightly and pointing towards the door. "I need to put my pants on, I'll meet you outside." She says as I nod. Her words don't truly hit me until I'm out of the room. "Wait, was she sleeping without pants?!" I mumble as I get slightly flustered. "Damn she's weird." I mumble as I walk through the door to the outside of the base. Moxi and Fallyn are stretching, while Lastis and Sinneth both stares straight at some trees. After a few seconds of limbering up, Attira exits the base and gets next to us. "So, I just fight you all? And whoever gets knocked off their feet loses?" Sinneth mumbles as Lastis nods. "We will do one on one fights until you fall or we do. The order will be Fallyn, Attira, Moxi, Malick, then me." Lastis says as Sinneth stares blankly at us. As Fallyn steps forward, Sinneth falls backward and hits the ground. "I lose, right?" Sinneth says as Lastis sighs. "You can't defeat yourself." Lastis says as Sinneth stands up. "Then couldn't a wise man exploit this game and fall down himself whenever he senses himself about to lose?" Sinneth says as Lastis sighs. "Then you just have to overcome that and prove your skill." Lastis says as Sinneth yawns. "So, when do we start?" He asks as Fallyn readies his fists. "Now." Fallyn says as he starts to step towards Sinneth. Before he even places his foot back down, Sinneth has him pinned to the ground with one foot. Sinneth looks towards Attira with his hands in his pockets. "Like that?" He asks as Lastis laughs. As Attira steps forwards, he takes his foot off of Fallyn and lets him up. "Damn, he's fast." Fallyn says as he walks back to us. As Attira charges towards him, he jumps over her and stands behind her. She attacks repeatedly, but he simply moves away from every attack. After several minutes, he simply trips Attira while she's swinging wildly. As she falls to her hands and knees, I hear her sigh then stand up. Moxi quickly jumps forward and signals for Sinneth to come at him. Sinneth stares at him as Moxi moves back and forth, trying to confuse him. Moxi suddenly dashes toward him. Sinneth kicks towards Moxi's face, so Moxi lands on his knees to slide under it. Before Moxi moves an inch from sliding, Sinneth's other foot hits his chest and slams him to the ground. Moxi coughs a little as Sinneth turns back around to face me. As I step forward, I take a deep breath. I quickly ready my fists and run towards Sinneth. As I start to punch towards him, I jump away, hoping to dodge an attack. I dodged nothing, he didn't move at all. "Shit." I whisper under my breath as Sinneth and I stare each other down. I quickly run towards him, waiting for a kick or a punch. As I see his left arm twitch ever so slightly, I kick my own foot to trip myself. He doesn't react as I throw a hard punch towards his right knee. As my fist shatters against his knee a swift kick knocks me back several feet. As I roll onto my hands and knees, I grit my teeth and try to not holler out in pain. My hand slowly heals as Lastis walks past me. "Good job, I guess the rumors about you were true. The laziest man in the DAHC." Lastis says as Sinneth look up slightly and closes his eyes. "I'd much rather be playing a video game over fighting." Sinneth says as he starts walking back towards the base. "We need to check your C.P.I before we do anything else." Lastis says as we all follow Sinneth anxiously. As we reach the machine, he stares at it for a moment. As he lifts the scanner and scans himself, the number 4,280 flashes on the screen. "Oh, I've somehow gotten weaker since I last scanned myself." Sinneth mumbles as we all stare at his number in disbelief. "So, wait. If you are, hold up." Moxi is clearly confused beyond reason and trying to put together a coherent thought. "Why would someone as strong as you, join us?" Moxi asks as Sinneth smiles slightly. "So I don't have to do as much work, obviously. The easier the missions, the quicker I can complete them and play my games." He says proudly. We all stare at him as Attira laughs. "Well, at least you have a goal." She says as he looks towards the room with his laptop. "I need to finish that really quickly." He mumbles as he walks into the room. We follow him to his laptop and see a spreadsheet with a lot of numbers on it. "What is this?" I ask as Sinneth yawns and starts typing incredibly fast. "I'm working out your growth rates and how quickly it would take for you all to catch up to me in C.P.I level. But it's purely dependent on who you fight. Weaker enemies will give you almost no growth, whereas stronger enemies can give a substantial boost to your strength." He says as Moxi and I both speak up. "Just like leveling up in a video game?" We ask as Sinneth smiles and gives us a thumb up. "Exactly." He says boldly.